Mensa

It was my pleasure to speak to the Mensa group last Wednesday at the Huntsville Public Library. We discussed First Lego League and other robotics competitions that students can become part of. I really have enjoyed coaching FLL Robotics in the past and gave that up in 2005 after my team won state championship. I had enrolled in my doctoral program and something had to go. It feels good to have started such a wonderful thing in Huntsville City Schools. I remember travelling around to all the schools in town to show off what our robot could do. My first team had to compete at Tennessee Tech because Alabama did not have a tournament. We placed 2nd place as a Rookie team. The next year we had our first Alabama tournament and there was a final playoff for the top 16 teams. Both of my teams made it to the final four. The next year, my 4th graders came in 4th place and then won 1st place the following year. Not only did they win 1st place, but they cleared all of the missions on the board. This was so exciting and if you are a FLL coach, you only know that to be the most impossible dream. What is even more exciting is that the kids did all the work and really knew the meaning of team-they broke the missions down and worked in pairs to write programs and build components to solve their specific mission. They then worked together to link up the missions and cut down on the time it took to get each mission accomplished. We were so excited to win first place and we got to perform our mission for all the other teams at the tournament. We were called the Nuclear Penguins- and my oldest son Eric was on the team. I will always cherish those memories. People used to joke that my tombstone would be made out of legos. It was so neat to meet all the wonderful children tonight at Mensa and talk with their parents about how important it is that our children are involved in real problem-solving opportunities.